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Serena

An MCP server that lets Claude find, edit and rename code by symbol, the way an IDE does, instead of by line numbers and text search.

Before you start:
  • uv (Python package manager)
  • Claude Code or another MCP client
Setup
10 min
Level
Intermediate
Stars
30.1k
License
GPL-3.0-or-later
Jump to the install commandView on GitHub

What it does

Serena is an MCP server. An MCP server is a connector that gives Claude new tools. Serena's tools work at the level of code symbols (functions, classes, variables), so Claude can find a function, see everything that references it, or rename it across files in one step.

It supports over 40 programming languages through free language servers by default. A paid JetBrains plugin (free trial) is an alternative backend that adds extra refactoring and debugging tools. Serena also has a simple memory system for long-running projects.

Install it

  1. Install uv, the only required prerequisite. Follow the official guide at docs.astral.sh/uv.
  2. Install Serena with uv (command below). After this, the serena command is available in your terminal.
  3. Run serena init to set it up and check that everything works. You should see a success message.
  4. Connect Serena to Claude Code (or Claude Desktop) by adding a launch command in your client. Follow the client setup page linked below for the exact steps.
  5. The README warns not to install Serena from an MCP or plugin marketplace, because those listings contain outdated install commands.

Copy this

Terminal
uv tool install -p 3.13 serena-agent
serena init

Use it

  1. Open a code project in Claude Code with Serena connected.
  2. Ask Claude to do symbol-level work, such as finding all references to a function or renaming a class across the project.
  3. Read the user guide's section on Serena's project-based workflow to get the most out of it.

Good to know

Some languages need extra dependencies when you use the language server backend. Check the Language Support page in the docs.

Inside Claude Code, Serena's basic file and shell tools are usually turned off by default, since Claude Code already has its own.

License: the main Serena application is GPL-3.0-or-later; the SolidLSP component is MIT.

Links

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